How science saved the Bramley apple

Two hundred years after the first seeds were planted, the Bramley variety is still considered by professional chefs as the best apple for cooking, but it's science, not Jamie Oliver, doing most to preserve the flavour of our tastiest apple pies.

Unique to the UK, the Bramley is regarded as the culinary epicentre of anything apple. Its delicate blend of malic acid and sugar, together with that melt-in-your-mouth texture make them ideal for any number of sweet and savoury delights.

However, the flavour we can enjoy today is no mere force of nature. Rather, it is the science of cloning that we have to thank, and the work of scientists at the University of Nottingham.

In 1809, the first seeds were planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. Her property was subsequently bought by a local butcher, Matthew Bramley, from whom the apple derives its name.

Despite a few worrying moments over the centuries, including an incident in which the original Bramley tree was blown over by violent storms, it still survives to bear fruit today, and the pips planted by that young girl went on to be the source of a £50m industry in the UK.

In 1991, when the tree was suffering from a bout of honey fungus, the growers decided they needed a back-up plan. Propagating the tree's characteristics, however, proved problematic. The normal procedure of taking cuttings and grafting them into the root of a tree from the same variety would produce another generation, but one which would yield a distinctly different apple.

Two scientists were called in to help. Professor Ted Cocking and Dr Brian Power from the university's biology department decided to opt for a lesser known technique that would preserve the DNA and create a clone.

"Our procedure is a novel way of getting roots to form on shoots and has not been used much before on other plants, especially apple tree shoots," Cocking said. But, he says, "cloning an apple tree and a sheep are basically comparable in biological principle".

Shoot tips were cut from the plant, disinfected, and the inactive buds were placed into a nutrient growth medium. While less disturbing than the image of a laboratory filled with cloned human embryos, the process does, in effect, allow the selected buds to develop in prisinte womb-like conditions.

Once the roots reached 3cm in length they were transferred to soil in a mist propagator and from there into a glasshouse.

Cocking said: "Being able to clone the original Bramley apple tree is a wonderful example of how plant biotechnology has helped us to preserve for ourselves and for future generations what was a gift of nature - the original Bramley apple."

Although no clones are pure, he explained, the procedure was capable of preserving the tree's original genetic code and "could be used to clone valuable trees of various types."

An orchard of 12 cloned trees now thrives in the Millennium Garden in Nottingham's University Park, where groundskeeper Desmond O'Grady tends to the original Bramley's lab-preserved offspring.

"The pips planted at Southwell 200 years ago gave us an apple variety which holds a place at the heart of the British culinary experience and is known worldwide for quality," he said. "The trees in the orchard at the University of Nottingham provide a fine example of living history and a genetic bank for the future."

This year is the bicentenary of the Bramley apple and many events will be held throughout the next few months. For more information on the programme of events visit www.bramleyapple.co.uk

Edited by Mike Hills

Comments

I`ve used the electrical stimulation device for anticellulite massage. My hips look better after two months of using. I advise this simulator to all women with similar problems.